Hardware Tech Lead

CNTXT, Inc.; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 350,000 - 700,000; Full time

Job summary

CNTXT, Inc. in Abu Dhabi on-site is seeking a hands-on hardware tech lead who will own hardware end-to-end for egocentric capture systems. You will spec the capture suite, manage vendors, and design hardware hands-on while developing CNTXT's hardware IP and guiding engineers and contractors.

The role requires leadership in setting up the hardware lab, BOM management, design reviews, and mentoring engineers. 7+ years in hardware, ODM experience, and strong systems integration are essential.

Qualifications

• Must have mixed-signal schematic design with power trees and signal integrity.
• PCB design with multi-layer layouts, DFM/DFT awareness, fab/assembly knowledge.
• Camera systems expertise: image sensors, MIPI CSI-2, ISP pipelines.
• IMU selection, sensor fusion basics, calibration and drift characterization.
• Hardware time synchronization and timestamping at source.
• Embedded C/C++ on MCUs/SoCs; RTOS or embedded Linux; hardware drivers.
• Low-power and wearable design with battery budgeting and thermal limits.
• Lab/debug skills: oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers.
• Wireless offload: Wi-Fi/BLE, storage, data transfer reliability.
• Biosignal sensing and electrode interfaces (EMG or similar).
• Mechanical enclosure design and CAD collaboration for wearables.
• Certification knowledge (CE/FCC/RoHS; UAE TDRA when applicable).
• Scripting for test automation and sensor characterization (Python).

Responsibilities

• Own the egocentric capture suite specification and architecture.
• Define hardware interfaces to data pipelines (e.g., MCAP) and ensure sync.
• Evaluate and manage ODMs/contract manufacturers with data-driven rationale.
• Review schematics/PCB layouts; write and debug firmware for sensors.
• Lead hardware lab setup, BOM control, and design reviews.
• Mentor engineers and contractors; participate in hiring hardware staff.

Skills

Electronics design

PCB design

Camera systems

Inertial sensing

Time synchronization

Embedded firmware

Low-power wearable

Lab and debug

Wireless offload

Biosignal sensing

Mechanical collaboration

Scripting for test automation

Education

Electrical/ Electronics Engineering degree

Tools

Altium

KiCad

PLM/BOM tool

Job description

CNTXT (AI71) | Abu Dhabi, on-site | Full-time | Reports to: Director of AI & Engineering

Role summary

CNTXT (AI71) builds egocentric and teleoperation data infrastructure for humanoid robotics and embodied AI. This role owns our hardware end to end. You will spec our egocentric capture suite, select and manage vendors, and design hardware hands-on. You will also build CNTXT's own hardware IP. This is a hands-on tech lead role: you set the technical direction for hardware and guide the engineers and contractors working on it.

Key responsibilities

• Ego capture suite: specification and architecture
  • Write system requirements and the full spec for our wearable egocentric capture platform: head-mounted cameras, IMUs, EMG/biosignal sensors, hand and head-pose tracking, audio, storage, power and thermals.
  • Set camera requirements: FOV, resolution, frame rate, shutter type, lens distortion and low-light performance.
  • Design multi-sensor time synchronisation (hardware triggering, shared clocks, timestamping) so streams align at capture, not in post-processing.
  • Trade off data quality against wearability, battery life, unit cost and manufacturability for a large, distributed contributor base.
  • Define the interface to our data pipeline so device output maps cleanly into capture formats such as MCAP.
• Vendor evaluation and management
  • Map the market for capture devices, sensor modules, ODMs and contract manufacturers.
  • Build scored evaluation frameworks and run bake-offs on real captured data, not datasheets.
  • Recommend build, buy or partner decisions with clear technical and commercial reasoning.
  • Run vendors through pilot, NRE, EVT/DVT/PVT and volume supply; hold them to spec, quality and delivery dates.
• Hands-on hardware design
  • Own or closely review schematics and PCB layouts for prototypes and custom boards.
  • Write and debug embedded firmware for sensor capture, sync and data offload.
  • Bring up boards and characterise performance: latency, clock drift, noise, sync accuracy, power draw.
  • Build test fixtures, calibration rigs and incoming-QA tools for devices in the field.
• Hardware IP
  • Spot patentable ideas in sensing, synchronisation, calibration and wearable form factor.
• Technical leadership
  • Set up the hardware lab, tools, BOM management, design reviews and hardware version control.
  • Lead design reviews, break down work and mentor engineers and contractors on hardware tasks.
  • Help interview and onboard hardware engineers as the work grows.

Technical skills required

“Must” means we won’t hire without it; “Strong” means we expect solid working depth.

### Domain### What we need### LevelElectronics designMixed-signal schematic design, component selection, power trees, signal integrity for high-speed linksMustPCBOwning or rigorously reviewing multi-layer layouts; DFM/DFT awareness; working with fab and assembly housesMustCamera systemsImage sensors, MIPI CSI-2, ISP pipelines, lens/FOV selection, rolling vs. global shutter, exposure syncMustInertial and pose sensingIMU selection and integration, sensor fusion basics, intrinsic and extrinsic calibration, drift characterisationMustTime synchronisationHardware triggering, PTP/shared clocks, timestamping at source, measuring and bounding cross-sensor offsetMustEmbedded firmwareC/C++ on MCUs and SoCs; RTOS or embedded Linux; drivers for I2C, SPI, UART, USB; DMA and bufferingMustLow-power and wearable designBattery selection and management, power budgeting, thermal limits for head-worn devicesMustLab and debugOscilloscopes, logic analysers, power analysers; systematic board bring-up and root-cause debuggingMustWireless and data offloadWi-Fi/BLE integration, high-throughput local storage, reliable offload of large video datasetsStrongBiosignal sensingEMG or similar analog front ends: filtering, noise, electrode interfaces, samplingStrongMechanical collaborationReading CAD, enclosure trade-offs, ergonomics for all-day wear, working with ID/ME partnersStrongCertificationCE, FCC, RoHS, battery transport rules, UAE TDRA type approvalStrongScriptingPython for test automation, data validation and sensor characterisationStrongToolsAltium or KiCad; version control for hardware; a PLM or BOM toolStrong

Experience and leadership

• -7+ years in hardware engineering, with at least one device taken from concept through mass production.
• -Direct experience managing ODMs or contract manufacturers, including in China or Southeast Asia: NRE negotiation, factory audits, yield issues.
• -A record of writing product requirement documents and hardware specs that others built against.
• -Has run structured vendor or component selections and can defend the choice with data.
• -Comfortable being the go-to hardware expert: designing, debugging and making technical calls without a large team around you.
• -Has technically led engineers or contractors on a hardware project: design reviews, task breakdown, mentoring.
• -Communicates trade-offs clearly to non-hardware leaders and to commercial partners.
• -Degree in Electrical, Electronics or Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience. A master's is a plus, not a requirement.

Nice to have

• -Robotics sensing, teleoperation rigs or data-capture hardware for ML training.
• -Depth and stereo cameras, eye tracking or hand-tracking hardware.
• -Haptics or wearable actuators.
• -Signal processing background (filtering, sensor noise modelling, RF).
• -Existing network of component suppliers and manufacturers in Asia.